The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1884. The Opposition

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 56, 21 October 1884, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1884. The Opposition

It was a favorable taunt of Major Atkinson's, when he deemed his position on the Treasury Benches secured for almost the " term of his natural life," that there was no " Opposition," and, at the time, he was right. The Colony expected or hoped when he was put in the position of leader of tho Opposition he would find what is the great desideratum in party politics, and so organise it as to compel sound administration by the Government. The Colony has boon disappointed. There is no Opposition. The reasons are not difficult to find, the most important of which is that Major Atkikson has not the power or gift of \ attracting to himself the personal affection of members of his party, nor, ] as far as we can learn, does he make , any effort to do so. His abilities are of a high order, but they do not, however, command respect from his friends or fear from his enemies. He is somewhat narrow-minded, with a character in which obstinacy is the ruling feature, and possessess a ruggedness of address which on occasions descends to vulgarity. These are not the qualities which will enable a leader to make a good battle with a small force at his disposal. To do him justice, he does not appear to have made any attempt to keep his party together, and we have considerable doubt that if he had done so it would have been labor wasted, for the scramble for the " loaves and fishes " scattered by Sir Julius Yogel would prove too attractive for even strongerminded mortals than the members of the New Zealand Parliament. For two years it has been our task to point out the leaks that would ultimately sink the Ship of State manned by the Atkinson party, and our prophecy, to the effect that as soon as Sir Julius Yogel appeared on the scene it would founder, has been fulfilled to the letter. That we contributed in some degree towards that end we are proud to say, and the knowledge of having assisted in the downfall of a party which has proved so inimical to the interests of the Manawatu is to ns a source of infinite satisfaction. The only real regret we feel is that Major Atkinson should have become an object of pity, which, though pity is akin to love, is allied to contempt. We have in the past always upheld him as a sturdy fighter, for whom no odds had any terrors, and to find that after a first defeat he should calmly " bow his head to the storm," is to us a bitter disappointment. We believed that as leader of a compact Opposition he womld learn to control himself, and by practising self denial and consideration for the feelings of others he would the better fit himself to again assume a position in the Government for which his past experience would then have fitted him. We have seen it hinted by a contemporary— not the Post — that the erstwhile gallant Major has been seeking office under the present rulers. For his honor we hope this has no grain of truth in it. The time when the colony would have pardoned or accepted such an action has gone past, and the slender cord that now binds the constituency he represents to him would be snapped asunder and his political reputation ruined.